In the pursuit of a better life, physical violence is often the most visible, but psychological and economic violence can be just as damaging and sometimes even more enduring. Ndeye Rokhaya Ndoye experienced this firsthand during her time in Bamako, Mali. “I managed to open a restaurant in Bamako. Business was going fairly well, but the landlord kept raising the rent. On top of that, I faced constant harassment – sometimes bordering on xenophobia. Still, I endured it all because my priority was to work and provide for myself and my family,” she recalls.
Originally from Bargny, in the Rufisque department of Senegal, her story takes an even more painful turn. “One day, the landlord came and threw us out. For a week, my niece and I slept under the sky,” she says. Now back in Senegal, Ms. Ndoye expresses her deep disappointment at the lack of support from diplomatic authorities during her ordeal and is equally critical of the silence of fellow Senegalese nationals living in Bamako.